IT may not be the usual item to write on your shopping list, but people wandering around the aisles of a major supermarket will soon be able to pick up a filling or a veneer with their weekly shop.

Tesco in Corstorphine, Edinburgh, will become the first major retailer to open an NHS dental practice inside a supermarket when the surgery starts accepting patients on Monday.

Dental group IDH is opening the practice and says it has already been swamped with people looking for appointments.

IDH chief executive Richard Smith said that the group was responding to growing demands for greater access to NHS dentists.

In 2010, Scottish Health Boards revealed that 79,375 people were on waiting lists for an NHS dentist – down only slightly on 82,166 the year before.

Mr Smith said: "In the history of UK dentistry, the biggest issue has been access.

"Even though the Government has improved this enormously, there is still an opportunity to give patients quality dentistry: whenever and where-ever it can fit in with their daily routines."

Private dental care was first offered inside a supermarket at a Sainsbury's store in Manchester four years ago.

However, the Corstorphine store will be the first one to house an NHS dentist.

Mr Smith said the practice would be staffed by an experienced team of dentists and stocked with state of the art equipment.

Patients will be offered a choice of NHS, private and premium private treatments. There will be three surgeries available, and the practice will stay open 364 days a year.